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I had a major problem trying to get smartsputnik.ru from being my default browser. I'm pretty sure that it came from some weird Japanese game my neighbor's kid downloaded recklessly from some site.

I tried removing it from Google Chrome through the settings but I can't remove it. This is what Chrome tells me:

This setting is enforced by your administrator.

I haven't seen that before, nor did I know that was even possible. I checked the only other browser on my PC, IE. And smartsputnik was there as well. Also I went to regedit and looked for the "smartsputnik" keyword using 'Find'. All I saw was one value and I deleted it. I ended process trees of those that I haven't seen before. But I saw some of them coming back.

I've reset Chrome settings afterwards but the problem persists.

I don't want to mess anything else since I'm more of the game developer type.

I also tried SystemLook program from what I've read in the internet. But that was for another malware. I didn't understand the logs I got and don't want to mess with it as well.

I'm all out of options here.

I need to remove this search engine and anything related to it. It's in Russian language so I don't need it even more.

random
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Gian Carlo Manuel
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3 Answers3

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Try checking Chrome's shortcuts. If you see that the executable path has been modified, remove all the shortcuts. Afterwards run all your spy- and malware checks again, before you recreate the shortcuts.

Praetore
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Have you already tried right-clicking the chrome shortcut, going into properties and looking if something is added to the path like "....chrome.exe http://somesite.com"?

Also look if there's something in the program files folder.

Try reinstalling chrome or running it as administrator.

You could also use CCleaner to remove add ons and plug ins which you can download on Piriforms website

Update

I found something interesting on this page. It might help you.

xdevs23
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I've found the ANSWER!!

The thing is, fixing the problem itself is pretty simple. It only involves setting Google as the default search engine and deleting ">" which is the name of the search engine itself and leading to smartsputnik. But, like I said, I couldn't because a message "This setting is enforced by your administrator"

That is what I had to fix!

All I had to do was go to regedit to remove the key for smartsputnik.ru and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Policies/Google/GroupPolicies

and then I deleted it. I also went to it's folder and deleted it.

When I reset Chrome settings again, I got to change my default search engine and VOILA~~! Problem solved. :)

Thank you for the help~!

Gian Carlo Manuel
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